Asia topples Europe in world’s most expensive cities list

Hong Kong, March 11 (DPA) Asian cities have shot up the list of the world’s most expensive places as currency fluctuations bring down the relative cost of living in Europe, a survey found Wednesday. Tokyo and Osaka leapfrogged Oslo and Paris to rank as first and second respectively in the cost of living index by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Singapore jumped five places to 10th while Hong Kong overtook London and Vienna to leap 17 places to 11th on the twice-yearly survey of costs in 140 cities worldwide.

With the yuan strengthening considerably over the last year, major Chinese cities have comparatively become sharply more expensive with Shanghai climbing 16 places to 29th on the index.

Beijing rose 22 places to 36th while southern cities Shenzhen and Guangzhou each climbed 26 places to rank as 41st and 53rd respectively. Taipei moved up 10 places to 57th.

Despite the relative fall in living costs, Europe still claimed seven out of the top 10 most expensive cities on the index with Copenhagen, Zurich, Frankfurt, Helsinki and Geneva also claiming top-10 berths.